Newest Family Member

Well, we are thrilled to announce that we have a new member to our extended family. Isn't she lovely!!! Cricket is her name...do we now call her our 'Grand Dog'. I think we should....

Proud new owner, our DD.

Cricket is 2 1/2 years old and our DD rescued her from a shelter. She is in the process of getting adjusted to her new home and life with her new owner.

Free Mazagines

Shhhh, keep this quiet....

I just have to tell everyone about a little secret that I am kinda' apprehensive about sharing. But it's been so much fun, that I thought you might want to get in on the action also.

I have found that this website is excellent for getting postings for really nice free magazines. What is the catch, right? No seriously, they are free and they have been wonderful, I am currently overflowing with free magazines. I love all of them, I would never in a million years subscribe to them, too expensive, but I love the beautiful pictures and the awesome articles.

I am presently getting about 8 magazines for free with no harassing phone calls, emails, subscription notices, etc.

What I have found out is that certain magazines sometimes need to boost their readership numbers and therefore for limited times they will open up prescriptions to additional members for free, no catch, no harassment and I find that I get them pretty swiftly after signing up.

What I have done is added the budget helpers blog address to my google reader as a subscription then when I see that she has posted a new free magazine, I quickly click and sign up. No more than that.

http://budgethelpers.blogspot.com/

Check it out. I just signed up to start receiving 'The Magazine Antiques' yesterday for a one year subscription. Here is the link. I think it is closed now, but go ahead and see....http://budgethelpers.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-magazine-antiques-free-sub.html

Band Booster Mom Goes Crazy!!!!

http://www.frionaonline.com/

Check it out. This is our local newspaper and they are great about uploading pictures of events and are very timely. If you click on the link of photos, review the Maize Days photos, especially page 2 or specifically #28 of 135, there is one certain very handsome young man, or otherwise known as my DS!!!

Gotta' love that band!!!

Frustrated with Teachers

Just wanting to ventilate a little...

I am very frustrated in the inability to find a private alto saxophone tutor for my DS. He is a junior in high school and is very determined to make it to the state band this year. He is very skilled and has advanced to the All Area level over the past two years, but just hasn't been able to get to that last level for state. Unfortunately, to reach the state level, it pretty well requires him to have private lessons.

I have contacted six local schools and even have called schools nearby in an adjoining state. I have also called, emailed and begged a couple of well known alto sax instructors in nearby colleges and universities.

Either no response after two to three varied methods of attempting contact or they are too swamped to take on another student.

When my DS requests something, I am always quite determined to try and make it happen and I am not able to get this latest request even off of the ground.

I guess you could say that I am angry as well as very frustrated. I have even sat down with his local high school director with no help or further suggestions for steps to be taken.

Is that all I can do????!?!???!!!!

I have to let you know about how amazing persistent prayer is...I had posted this vent blog two days ago, I have learned the useful tool of scheduling postings...in the meantime, I have received an email from the Director of Bands/Symphony at WTAMU in Canyon, Don LeFevre.

I had previously sent him an email over 6 weeks ago, called and left messages, emailed and called his secretary, etc...with no response. He is an excellent alot sax player and highly respected as an instructor, in this part of the country he is the cats meow ( too old for most of you?!?). He has agreed to take my DS on as a private student!!!! Whoop, whoop, whoop, (do a little dance!!!)

We are now in the process of working out a schedule for sessions.

Did I mention, that I know exactly who to thank for this....Praise Jesus!!!

Did I also thank and praise him even when I wasn't getting the responses that I wanted, yes...I am learning to praise him at all times, not just when I get what I want, but realising that I have handed my life over to him and allow him to be in charge of everything.

Is it easy to praise him during the bad and difficult times, previously I would have said no, but the more you realise how he works in your life each moment of each day, it is not difficult to do. It is called 'surrender', I surrender everything to him.

Have you?!?

F - Forgiveness. We cannot have a relationship with God without forgiveness
(Ephesians 1:7a)
A - Available. Forgiveness is available for all (John 3:16)
I - Impossible. It is impossible for God to allow sin into heaven (Romans
3:23).
T - Turn. A person must turn away (repent) from sin and follow God (Luke
13:3).
H - Heaven. Heaven is the gift of eternal life now and in the hereafter
(John 10:10b: 14:3)

I would be happy to share my personal testimony with you and pray with you. Please contact me via plnewhou@msn.com.

The Cutest Blog On The Block

Don't ask me how I ever discovered this blog link, but it was a lifesaver. I have tried and tried and tried to find a blog background that I liked for free, I have also downloaded free photo design programs to try to design my own blog background to great failure.

This blog site, thrilled me!!! http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/

It has so many current, cute, free and fun blog backgrounds and it only took me less than 10 minutes to figure out how to upload the html code and preview my changes.

Try it and see...

Pick Your Own

In light of the recent economic changes that we will probably all be facing, I have happened upon a wonderful site. It will help you identify local farms, orchards, plots where you can pick your own produce, Christmas trees, etc.

Not too many around my area of the country, but I will see what might pop up here and there.

Several of the farms make it a family affair and you can really score some terrific fresh produce, veggies, fruit, nuts, etc.

It also has some great links on home canning, gardening, etc.

Check it out...http://www.pickyourown.org/

Exercising Your Rights

Sometimes I feel so frustrated with what is going on with our government. We are fortunate that our national representative makes quarterly visits to our townhall for public discussions, but what to do in the meantime???


I take the time to send brief email messages to the president, senators and representatives when I wish to strongly express my opinion. You should also take the time...

Also, make sure you keep yourself educated and up to date on the concerns that are dear to you.

I like to use the following link for my emails, check it out....http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

I just had to get my viewpoints posted on the President's economic bailout plan.

Please express your opinions also.

God's Blessings

I talk about looking for God's blessings each and everyday.

DH and I have been praying about our littlest son. He is Mr. Social and is at a critical stage in his life, where he needs interaction with other little ones. There aren't any little ones in our neighborhood for him to play with. He loves Sunday school and sees his church friends on Sunday mornings, but they typically live 30 miles away or go to daycare during the day because their moms work.

DH and I were looking for extra sources of income for a possible 'mother's day out' and let him go to a local daycare for a social day.

I picked up our local paper last week and saw an ad 'Childcare Needed for 2 1/2 year old on Fridays and Monday'. I called my DH and asked what he thought. I am not one to think about daycare (honestly, I love my own kids, but I have never been known to be the most nurturing person on a consistent basis with little ones). But this just seemed to be too perfect. The child ended up being a little girl about 32 months, potty trained and talking up a storm. Her mom was reluctant to place an ad for someone to take of her, but felt like she had no option. The grandmother who was watching her on the odd days suddenly took ill.

I have been blessed to have taken care of her for two days and can't tell you how we have been blessed. Our littlest is so happy and we can already tell. It hasn't been without challenges, he is having difficulty with trading and sharing things, but she is just as headstrong as he is, so he has met his match.

Some might not think this is a blessing, but I think it is. I have the pleasure of a sweet little girl playing with our littlest and instead of having to pay someone for overseeing his social time, we are getting paid and our son is loving it....I would say that is a triple blessing, but her parents feel a tremendous weight of relief as well. Pray that this continues to work out positively for all involved!

Recipes Galore...

Good morning, I know it is not Fall yet, but the mornings are getting cooler and the shadows are getting longer... I am getting happier! I love Spring and Fall, plus being a super homebody during Winter, my DH quite the opposite, can't get enough of the brutal Summer, the more brutal the happier he is.'

I did finalize my four cooking plans for the local Lions Club. I use http://allrecipes.com/ for a tremendous source for recipes, if I don't have the recipe already. I like the site, because you can research the recipes and I tend to categorize them by the ratings. So far, it has proven to be dead on as far as I am concerned.

The four menus are:

Italian

lasagna

Greek salad

Italian bread rolls

Brownies with fruit compote

American Classic

Fried chicken

Mashed potatoes w/cream gravy

Green Beans

Homemade rolls

Cobbler w/cream

Everyday Favorite

Individual Mini Meatloaves

Twice Baked Potatoes

Broccoli Salad

Lemon Sheet Cake

Mexican

Beef/cheese enchiladas

Mexican Rice

Refried Beans

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pineapple-Upside-Down-Cake-VII/Detail.aspx

I have to highly recommend this recipe for the pineapple upside down cake, it was wonderful!!!
I haven't made a pineapple upside down cake in probably 18 years, but this was easy and wonderful. I did not use an iron skillet, just my regular cake pan and followed the recipe with the following revisions. I used pineapple chunks and took the suggestion of one of the reviewers and used the pineapple juice from the can in place of some of the water needed from the cake mix directions, also picked up a pineapple supreme cake mix in place of the white from the recipe.

Take a look at the site and see if you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Bon Appetit!!!

Budget...Why Do We Think That Is A Four Letter Word?!?

I can get obsessive about details:

Budget Guidelines Established in 2006
Housing 36%
Food 13%
Auto 11%
Health Insurance 5%
Ent/Rec 8%
Clothing 7%
Savings 5%
Med/Dental 4%
Misc 6%
Investments 5%
We set these guidelines up from reading and reviewing Crown Financial Ministries recommendations.

Current 2008 Budget Actual
Housing39.91%
Food9.77%
Auto9.49%
Savings/Investments/AutoInsuranceBuildup23.21%
Misc/Ent/Rec/Clothes17.61%

Let me also explain that this is a budget based on 61.67% of our gross income, 22.44 % of our gross income is absorbed with TRS/taxes/medicare/health insurance and the final 15.89% is dedicated to debt payment and tithe. We pay all our bills on the day we are paid, set aside our savings and live off the rest, so sometimes our food/auto/misc is less than the planned % is or we have an unexpected expense and this always happens and we eat off of our food stash.

We have a goal to have our home paid off in 5 years. This is realistic for us, we initially took out a 15 year note and are 4 years into our mortgage. Our goal is to establish an emergency fund of savings equivalent to 3 months gross salary and then the excess will all be put towards our mortgage payoff. Some would not agree with these priorities, but this is what we have established, there is a tremendous ease with having a house that is paid off.